Dear Parent(s) & Year 11 Student

GCSE Results Day and Post 16 Enrolment, Thursday 20^th and 21^st August 2020

Given all the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we felt it would be useful for us to let you know our arrangements for GCSE Results Day on Thursday August 20^th and the Post 16 Enrolment process.   As part of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic we have put in a new process to reduce the amount of people coming on to the school site during Results Day for both GCSE and A Level students. The Post-16 Centre, where we normally distribute results, will remain closed on these two days. As much as possible we will distribute and administer both centre assessed grades and Post-16 recruitment using a virtual system. 

GCSE RESULTS 2020

Before you get your grades tomorrow I wanted to take the opportunity to explain how your results were determined this year. As you know, this year’s GCSE results had to be awarded differently from usual, after exams were unable to go ahead due to Covid-19. Schools and colleges were asked to use their professional experience to make a fair and objective judgement of the grades they believed a student would have achieved had they sat their exams this year, and to submit these centre-assessed grades (CAGs) to the relevant exam board.

Groups of teachers and leaders in each subject worked together to discuss and agree the centre-assessed grade for each student. They took into account a wide range of available evidence, including class work, mock exams and other records of student performance.

The intention was that the exam boards would then moderate the CAGs, to check that schools and colleges had approached this task consistently, before providing students with their final calculated grades. Unfortunately, as you will no doubt be aware, the method they used to do this proved problematic, and was likely to lead to many grades being moderated down. The government therefore made the decision that GCSE and A level students would be awarded whichever was higher for each subject – their CAG or their calculated grade. This is what the grades you will receive tomorrow will be based on.

If you want to resit any of your exams, the current plan is for a full series of exams to take place in November. We don’t yet have full details of how this will work, but please let us know if that’s something you’d like to discuss.

WHO SHOULD I TALK TO ABOUT MY GCSE RESULT?

Over the next week we will need to prioritise our resources in school. Over the next four days (Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday) our number one priority will be making sure the Post-16 recruitment process is as smooth as possible for you. When we complete this we will need to refocus on the reopening of the school, ready to welcome a full cohort of pupils back on site for the first time since March. In conjunction with this you may have questions about the grades you have been awarded. Please send any questions to gcse@wbs.school only. Over the last week we have been managing the A Level grades process, and sometimes emails have been sent to 6 or 7 school email addresses resulting in the query from a student being answered ineffectively. As such we will only be replying to GCSE grade queries from that inbox.

WEST BRIDGFORD SCHOOL GCSE RESULTS PROCESS AND POST 16 RECRUITMENT

Please read the information below carefully. We have a number of very important deadlines this year, many of them with a very tight schedule to follow. This is because we anticipate we may have to use our over-subscription criteria for the 2020-2021 recruitment cycle. If you could follow the deadlines laid out below we will be able to maximise the number of places that we can offer to our prospective Post-16 students.

1. GCSE Results will be emailed home
   Results will be emailed to pupils SCHOOL email accounts at 8.00am on the morning of Thursday 20^th August. Please bear with us as these can take up to 15 minutes to process. Please ensure that pupils test that they have remembered how to access these accounts before Results Day. Email itsupport@wbs.school for any help with this. The format for school emails is as follows:

15Full forename and Initial of surname@students-wbs.school

Eg 15DavidB@students-wbs.school

OCR exam board have notified us that Cambridge iMedia and IT grades will not be ready for distribution tomorrow. These grades will be released next week.

• Paper Copies of GCSE Certificates
  Paper-copies of certificates will be available for those that require them for College applications etc, for collection by appointment only, on Thursday 20^th and Friday 21^st August. Contact studentservices@wbs.school who will send you an appointment time to collect your certificate from Student Services Reception. These appointments will be spread through the day to promote continued social distancing.
   
• Post-16 Enrolment

After you receive your GCSE Grades email, the school will send home a second email linked to your application to attend the West Bridgford School Post-16 Centre. These emails will be sent directly to your school email account. They will be sent home between 9.00 am and 10.00 am. Each of these emails will be individualised to your specific circumstance and tell you ‘what to do next’.

• Circumstance 1 - If you have achieved the grades you need to study at WBS Post 16 and do not want to change any of your subjects:
  • you will need to follow an embedded link on the email that will allow you to:
    • Formally accept your place in Post 16.
    • Tell us all the information we need.
  • Send us a selfie of yourself (appropriately dressed with a single colour background) so that we can create your new ID Card. Send this to Post16@wbs.school.
  • The deadline to complete the above actions is 2pm on Friday 21^st August.  Meeting this deadline is very important as we anticipate being over-subscribed this year.

 

• Circumstance 2 - If you have achieved the grades you need to study at WBS Post 16 BUT want to request a change in one of your A Level subjects:
  • you will need to follow an embedded link on the email that will allow you to:
    • Formally accept your place in Post 16 studying your ‘1^st choice’ subjects that you are currently registered to study.
    • Some students have registered a desire to change subjects during lockdown. Please help us by following this route in the process.
    • The deadline to complete the above actions is 2pm on Friday 21^st August.  Meeting this deadline is very important as we anticipate being over-subscribed this year.

IN ADDITION,

• Your parent / guardian will need to email post16@wbs.school by 2pm on Friday August 21^st to arrange an appointment for Monday August 24^th. Please include the best phone number to contact you on.
• They will then be emailed with details of your appointment time.
• Your meeting will either be with Mr Bowie (Director of Post 16), Ms Donovan (Pastoral Lead and Assistant Head of Post 16), Mr Deans (Deputy Head with Responsibility for Post 16) or Mrs Sharpe (Deputy Head with Responsibility for Intervention). It will be carried out on the telephone.
• Your meeting (which both parent and student should attend) will last 10 minutes.
• If we are able to accommodate your change, we will do so and you will be sent an amended offer email. Please reply to the email confirming you wish to accept that offer.
  • Send us a selfie of yourself (appropriately dressed with a single colour background) so that we can create your new card. Send this to Post16@wbs.school.
  • The deadline to complete the above actions is 11.59pm on Monday August 24^th.

 

• Circumstance 3 - If you have NOT achieved the grades you need to study at WBS Post 16:

• We are very sorry that you have not achieved what you need to study with us.

• (You may have concerns about the grade awarded to you. As yet we have not been told how you can raise an appeal. Please note however that the government has made it clear that students cannot challenge an individual centre assessment grade)
• Please let the school know what your destination after The West Bridgford School is going to be. You can do this by emailing adminoffice@wbs.school.
• If you would like to speak to Mr Bowie or Mr Deans to ask for advice about your route forward, please email post16@wbs.school to arrange a phone call on Tuesday August 25^th (deadline 11.59pm Saturday August 22^nd).
• Remember that if you are unhappy with your results, you will be able to sit exams in autumn 2020. We are still awaiting guidance from the government about exactly how you will be able to register for these, but will email these details out to parents as soon as we are told.

 

If you did not apply to The West Bridgford School Post 16, please let us know your destination after leaving the school (you can do this by emailing adminoffice@wbs.school). We wish you all the very best in your future!

• Autumn Examination Series 2020 

We do not yet have full instructions as to how pupils will be able to enter the Autumn examination series. However, we do know A Levels will take place in October and GCSE’s in November.  We anticipate that all examinations will be held at West Bridgford School rather than having to travel to another site. You will sit a full suite of examinations, however NEA will not be considered except in Art and Design.

 

I hope that this clarifies any issues or queries that you had regarding the process. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further clarification.

 

Best wishes – keep safe.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Cameron Bowie

Director of Post 16

The West Bridgford School

 

Mark Deans

Deputy Headteacher
The West Bridgford School